Dr. Umair bin Waheed

Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences

Umair bin Waheed is an Assistant Professor of Geophysics at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). His research interests are broadly in the area of computational geosciences. Specifically, he is interested in automating and improving workflows through the use of smart algorithms for enhanced decision-making in subsurface energy systems. Umair graduated from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology with a Ph.D. in Earth Science & Engineering in 2015. Prior to joining KFUPM in 2017, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, and a Writing in Science and Engineering fellow at the Princeton Writing Program.

Personal Page: umairbinwaheed.com

Educational Qualification

Ph.D., Earth Sciences & Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, 2015
M.S., Electronic Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Italy & Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, 2010
B.E., Electronic Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan, 2008

Research Interests

Physics- and data-driven machine learning
Geophysical modeling
Inverse problems
Induced seismicity
Geothermal exploration

Selected Publications

Alexandrov, D., U. Waheed, and L. Eisner. Microseismic location error due to eikonal traveltime calculation .” Applied Sciences, 11.3 (2021), doi.org/10.3390/app11030982
Song, C., T. Alkhalifah, and U. Waheed. Solving the frequency-domain acoustic VTI wave equation using physics-informed neural networks.” Geophysical Journal International, 225.2 (2021), doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggab010
Ketcheson, D., H. Ranocha, M. Parsani, U. Waheed, and Y. Hadjimichael. NodePy: A package for the analysis of numerical ODE solvers.” Journal of Open Source Software, 55.5 (2020): 2515, doi.org/10.21105/joss.02515
Waheed, U. A fast marching algorithm for the tilted transversely isotropic media.” Geophysics, 85.6 (2020): S385-S393, doi.org/10.1190/geo2019-0799.1
Stovas, A., T. Alkhalifah, and U. Waheed. Pure P-and S-wave equations in transversely isotropic media.” Geophysical Prospecting, 68.9 (2020): 2762-2769, doi.org/10.1111/1365-2478.13026
Alexandrov, D., L. Eisner, U. Waheed, S. Kaka, and S. Greenhalgh. Detection, location, and source mechanism determination with large noise variations in surface microseismic monitoring.” Geophysics, 85.6 (2020), KS197-KS205, doi.org/10.1190/geo2019-0841.1
Alexandrov, D., L. Eisner, U. Waheed, S. Kaka, and S. Greenhalgh. Normal faulting activated by hydraulic fracturing: A case study from the Barnett Shale, Fort Worth Basin, Texas, USA.” The Leading Edge, 39.3 (2020), 204-211, doi.org/10.1190/tle39030204.1
Hao, Q., U. Waheed, and T. Alkhalifah. P-wave complex-valued traveltimes in homogeneous attenuating transversely isotropic media.” Geophysical Prospecting, 67.9 (2019): 2402-2413, doi.org/10.1111/1365-2478.12869

Extended Publications (+)

Waheed, U., & Alkhalifah, T. (2017). A fast sweeping algorithm for accurate solution of the tilted transversely isotropic eikonal equation using factorization. Geophysics, 82(6), WB1-WB8.
Waheed, U., Stovas, A., & Alkhalifah, T. (2016). Anisotropy parameter inversion in vertical axis of symmetry media using diffractions. Geophysical Prospecting, 65(1), 194-203.
Waheed, U., Flagg, G., & Yarman, C. E. (2016). First-arrival traveltime tomography for anisotropic media using the adjoint-state method. Geophysics, 81(4), R147-R155.
Waheed, U., & Alkhalifah, T. (2016). Effective ellipsoidal models for wavefield extrapolation in tilted orthorhombic media. Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica, 60(3), 349-369.
Waheed, U., Yarman, C. E., & Flagg, G. (2015). An iterative, fast-sweeping-based eikonal solver for 3D tilted anisotropic media. Geophysics, 80(3), C49-C58.
Waheed, U., & Alkhalifah, T. (2015). An efficient wave extrapolation method for anisotropic media with tilt. Geophysical Prospecting, 63(5), 1126-1141.
Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T., & Wang, H. (2015). Efficient traveltime solutions of the acoustic TI eikonal equation. Journal of Computational Physics, 282, 62-76.
Ketcheson, D., & Waheed, U. (2014). A comparison of high-order explicit Runge–Kutta, extrapolation, and deferred correction methods in serial and parallel. Communications in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, 9(2), 175-200.
Ibanez-Jacome, W., Alkhalifah, T., & Waheed, U. (2014). Effective orthorhombic anisotropic models for wavefield extrapolation. Geophysical Journal International, 198(3), 1653-1661.
Waheed, U., Pšenčík, I., Červený, V., Iversen, E., & Alkhalifah, T. (2013). Two-point paraxial traveltime formula for inhomogeneous isotropic and anisotropic media: Tests of accuracy. Geophysics, 78(5), WC65-WC80.
Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T., & Stovas, A. (2013). Diffraction traveltime approximation for TI media with an inhomogeneous background. Geophysics, 78(5), WC103-WC111.

Journal Papers

[30] Guo, G., Lan, H., Zhou, X., Liu, Y., Waheed, U., Chen, J. (2021). Topography-dependent eikonal tomography based on the fast sweeping scheme and the adjoint-state technique. Geophysics, 87(2), 1-51.
[29] Alkhalifah, T., Song, C., Waheed, U., Hao, Q. (2021). Wavefield solutions from machine learned functions. Artificial Intelligence in Geosciences, 2, 11-19.
[28] Song, C., Alkhalifah, T., Waheed, U. (2021). A versatile framework to solve the Helmholtz equation using physics-informed neural networks. Geophysical Journal International, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2021.3054071.
[27] Wang, H., Alkhalifah, T., Waheed, U., Birnie, C. (2021). Data-driven microseismic event localization: Application to the Oklahoma Arkoma Basin hydraulic fracturing data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2021.3120546.
[26] Ayranci, K., Yildrim, I., Waheed, U., MacEachern, J. (2021). Deep learning applications in Geosciences: Insights into ichnological analysis. Applied Sciences, 11(16), 7736,
[25] Waheed, U., Haghighat, E., Alkhalifah, T., Song, C., Hao, Q. (2021). PINNeik: Eikonal solution using physics-informed neural networks. Computers and Geosciences, 155, 104833.
[24] Tariq, Z., Hassan, A.,Waheed, U., Mahmoud, M., Al-Shehri, D., Abdulraheem, A., Mokheimer, E. M. (2021). A data-driven machine learning approach to predict the natural gas density of pure and mixed hydrocarbons. Journal of Energy Resources Technology, 143(9), 092801.
[23] Zhou, X., Lan, H., Chen, L., Guo, G., Lei, Y., Waheed, U., Shulin, P. (2021). An iterative, factored topography dependent eikonal solver for anisotropic media. Geophysics, 86(5), 1-58.
[22] Almadani, M., Waheed, U., Masood, M., Chen, Y. (2021). Dictionary learning with convolutional structure for seismic data denoising and interpolation. Geophysics, 86(5), 1-102.
[21] Song, C., Alkhalifah, T., Waheed, U. (2021). Solving the frequency-domain acoustic VTI wave equation using physics-informed neural networks. Geophysical Journal International, 225(2), 846-859.
[20] Othman, A., Iqbal, N., Hanafy, S. M., Waheed, U. (2021). Automated event detection and denoising method for passive seismic data using residual deep convolutional neural networks. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2021.30540 1.
[19] Alsamadony, K. L., Yildirim, E. U., Glatz, G., Waheed, U., Hanafy, S. M. (2021). Deep learning driven noise reduction for reduced flux computed tomography. Sensors, 21(5), 1921.
[18] Alexandrov, D., Waheed, U., Eisner, L. (2021). Microseismic location error due to eikonal traveltime calculation. Applied Sciences, 11(3), 982.
[17] Ketcheson, D. I., Ranocha, H., Parsani, M., Waheed, U., Hadjimichael, Y. (2020). NodePy: A package for the analysis of numerical ODE solvers. Journal of Open Source Software, 5(55), 2515.
[16] Waheed, U. (2020). A fast-marching eikonal solver for tilted transversely isotropic media. Geophysics, 85(6), S385-S393.
[15] Alexandrov, D., Eisner, L., Waheed, U., Kaka, S. I., Greenhalgh, S. A. (2020). Detection, location, and source mechanism determination with large noise variations in surface microseismic monitoring. Geophysics, 85(6), KS197-KS206.
[14] Stovas, A., Alkhalifah, T., Waheed, U. (2020). Pure P-and S-wave equations in transversely isotropic media. Geophysical Prospecting, 68(9), 2762-2769.
[13] Alexandrov, D., Eisner, L., Waheed, U., Kaka, S. I., Greenhalgh, S. A. (2020). Normal faulting activated by hydraulic fracturing: A case study from the Barnett Shale, Fort Worth Basin. The Leading Edge, 39(3), 204-211.
[12] Hao, Q., Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T. (2019). P-wave complex-valued traveltimes in homogeneous attenuating transversely isotropic media. Geophysical prospecting, 67(9), 2402-2413.
[11] Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T. (2017). A fast sweeping algorithm for accurate solution of the tilted transversely isotropic eikonal equation using factorization. Geophysics, 82(6), WB1-WB8.
[10] Waheed, U., Stovas, A., Alkhalifah, T. (2017). Anisotropy parameter inversion in vertical axis of symmetry media using diffractions. Geophysical Prospecting, 65(1), 194-203.
[9] Waheed, U., Flagg, G., Yarman, C. E. (2016). First arrival traveltime tomography for anisotropic media using the adjoint-state method. Geophysics, 81(4), R147-R155.
[8] Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T. (2016). Effective ellipsoidal models for wavefield extrapolation in tilted orthorhombic media. Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica, 60(3), 349-369.
[7] Waheed, U., Yarman, C. E., Flagg, G. (2015). An iterative, fast-sweeping-based eikonal solver for 3D tilted anisotropic media. Geophysics, 80(3), C49-C58.
[6] Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T. (2015). An efficient wave extrapolation method for anisotropic media with tilt. Geophysical Prospecting, 63(5), 1126-1141.
[5] Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T., Wang, H. (2015). Efficient traveltime solutions of the acoustic TI eikonal equation. Journal of Computational Physics, 282, 62-76.
[4] Ketcheson, D., Waheed, U. (2014). A comparison of high-order explicit Runge-Kutta, extrapolation, and deferred correction methods in serial and parallel. Communications in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, 9(2), 175-200.
[3] Ibanez-Jacome, W., Alkhalifah, T., Waheed, U. (2014). Effective orthorhombic anisotropic models for wavefield extrapolation. Geophysical Journal International, 198(3), 1653-1661.
[2] Waheed, U., Psencik, I., Cerveny, V., Iversen, E., Alkhalifah, T. (2013). Two-point paraxial traveltime formula for inhomogeneous isotropic and anisotropic media: Tests of accuracy. Geophysics, 78(5), WC65-WC80.
[1] Waheed, U., Alkhalifah, T., Stovas, A. (2013). Diffraction traveltime approximation for TI media with an inhomogeneous background. Geophysics, 78(5), WC103-WC111.

Awards & Honors

SEG continuing education course instructor
Writing in Science and Engineering Fellowship, Princeton University, 2016-2017
Best student poster award, EAGE student and YP forum, 2014
Runners up, EAGE Geo-creativity prize competition, 2014
Third place, SIAM ‘Math Matters, Apply It!’ competition, 2013